


Rely On Us

by zanthe



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23449849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zanthe/pseuds/zanthe
Summary: Sharla and Shulk have a talk about Shulk's visions.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 68





	Rely On Us

**Author's Note:**

> My dayquil kicked in in the middle of writing this oops. I wanted to write a little about how Shulk's visions would affect him, but I also wanted to write Sharla since I rarely give her any love, so my original concept isn't here but I still like how it turned out. Next time I'll try to delve a little more into psychological horror-esque poetry like I was originally going to.

  
Sharla was doing a bit of maintenence on her rifle tonight, keeping herself occupied while the others slept. It was her shift now, and despite being tired from the trek back to Satorl Marsh, she was grateful. It was beautiful out, the obelisks' light piercing through the mist. They took refuge where Zazadan once had, and at the mouth of the cave the view was beautiful. 

  
Behind her, Reyn and Riki were snoring in sync, and Melia still had a bit of a whistle in her breathing; she'd gotten a mild cold while travelling in Valak the week prior. Dunban slept as silent as ever, Fiora curled up next to him, using his cape as a cover, and Sharla couldn't help but smile at that, the two had been inseperable since Fiora's return. Sharla's smile curled into a frown when she finally got to Shulk, however. 

  
She'd been noticing it for weeks, how fitful his sleep was. Sometimes, he'd whisper things, other times he'd curl into himself with a pained expression, and she wondered how he kept the strength to continue on in the mornings after such restless sleep. Visions, or nightmares? Sharla shook her head, whatever it was, it worried her, and she caught that same concern in Dunban sometimes, he knew the pain of war too, after all. Suddenly, Shulk jolted upright, clenching his chest and gasping for breath, eyes fixed on the ground until they flicked up to meet Sharla's startled gaze. He looked around, panicked almost, and carefully Sharla set down her rifle and walked over, offering him a hand. 

  
"We're in Satorl, in Zazadan's old hideout, c'mon, you look like you need some air." She whispered, not wanting to wake the others, and Shulk gratefully took her hand and followed her to the cave's entrance. They sat together, Sharla rummaging through her bag to find a canteen to offer Shulk while he calmed down from his nightmare. 

  
Shulk sat quietly hugging his knees, lost in his thoughts. "Shulk," Sharla began with a soft tone, "what's bothering you?" No sense beating around the bush, not when he was so distressed.  
He was silent for a while, voice hushed when he finally answered. "Can I be honest?" Sharla nodded, and he fumbled a moment before continuing. "Usually, my visions aren't very clear. They're like dreams, hard to remember and a little hazy. I can hear words, but not all of them are clear, and they're usually not in my perspective either, it's like I'm floating and observing something, but sometimes...

  
Sometimes they're too clear," his breath shook, a shiver going through him, "when we first set out, I had a vivid vision of Reyn..." He stopped abruptly, glancing at Sharla.  
"It's alright," she reassured, "I can handle it."

  
Shulk sighed, "I had a vision of Reyn being impaled by the Arachno Queen, I could almost feel it in my gut. I've seen a lot of visions like that. Some of the vague ones leave me with a dull ache, like my body can't tell if I was already there or not. Or when we battle, I... I've seen you all die, several times, I can't let that happen." He was crying now, voice cracking as he said his next words, "I watched Fiora and the Emperor die, twice, and I couldn't do anything either time." 

  
It made sense now why he was losing sleep over this. It was awful just to hear about it, and Sharla felt like something had clicked into place. She'd never thought of visions as being more than a helpful warning, but the realization of how traumatic a simple nightmare could be, and the fact Shulk was essentially getting them on a daily basis... 

  
She pulled Shulk into a tight hug, let him cry on her shoulder as she spoke, "I think I understand these visions of yours a little better, it never crossed my mind that they were traumatic like that. Shulk," her voice grew a bit stern, "please, if you need to talk about them, tell me." Sharla pulled away, hands on either side of Shulk's shoulders, "we can't do anything about it if you don't tell us, and maybe we've gotten more reckless with you being able to bail us out of bad futures, which is causing you more stress than you can handle."

  
"No, no, I can handle it," Shulk lied, wiping his eyes, but Sharla didn't buy it for an instant.

  
"No, you can't, not forever. Shulk you're sleep deprived, you have been for days, you take more night shifts than anyone else. I'm guessing now you don't want to sleep, because if you sleep you'll dream?" His frown was response enough, and she sighed, letting her voice soften again. "I can make something to help you sleep, we'll need to stop at Colony 6 for the ingredients, so it's on the way. I'll have a talk with the others," he opened his mouth to protest, but a sharp glare stopped him, "I. Will talk with them. If I let you do it you'll postpone it until you have a breakdown. I know you Shulk, you're worse than Dunban when it comes to asking for help. At the very least he speaks up if it's bad enough to slow him down. You can't keep pretending you're ok, Shulk," she held his hand, "you have friends to help you. We rely on you a lot, you can rely on us too, you know?" 

  
There was a pause as Shulk processed her words, looking down at the hand she held for a while before nodding, "Alright," he agreed, and Sharla smiled at him, bringing a hand up to ruffle his hair. 

  
"Good, now, you're stuck on night shift with me until it's time to wake Reyn up, and we can work something out in the meantime. I'll make a list of the ingredients we need to make your sleep juice, and then hopefully you'll be able to sleep better." 

  
"Sharla," Shulk began, and she hummed, "Thank you." With that, he fell on his back with a dramatic sigh, "For listening to me, and helping me."

  
"Of course," Sharla smiled, "that's what friends are for." 


End file.
